Letter: Choice is removed

I AM WRITING in regards to the proposed changes to the catchment areas of Heron Way and Kingslea primary schools in Horsham.

We live in the Kingslea catchment area but our son attends Heron Way. We spent a great deal of time looking, visiting and researching different school possibilities.

Heron Way was by far our favourite. My son has settled brilliantly and is doing really well. We have been comfortable in the knowledge that our youngest son would also be able to attend and do equally as well at the same school.

If these new changes go ahead that might not be the case. I understand that Kingslea is over-subscribed but by not giving some kind of sibling promise to the parents of children at Heron Way as they have done at Kingslea, you are simply creating more problems.

I believe I am not the only parent who finds the prospect of two young children at different primary schools unmanageable.

I fear that if my youngest son does not get a place at the same school as his brother I will have no choice but to remove my eldest from his school thus unsettling and disrupting his progress so far. But what then?

One of the strongest feelings you get from Heron Way is a sense of community as the majority of parents spent a considerable amount of time making sure it was the right place for their children to grow and learn. It makes me both angry and sad that this feeling of choice is so close to being whipped away from us.

Surely a six year sibling promise for Heron Way is achievable. I find it hard to believe that the Local Authority Admissions Team has not gathered any information from the parents of Heron Way as to how many sibling places would be required. I can’t help but feel this decision was made sometime ago and now the LAAT is just going through the motions.

That simply isn’t fair. We have been given the right to choose where we would like our children to be educated, that is surely what the school preference system is about. It can’t be beneficial to change the catchment areas and not offer support to all the families affected.